The academic year of 2017 has begun at De Montfort University, and so starts the studying and analysis of Social Media Production as part of the Social Media & Technology module within Media Production. But, before talking about the specifics of this module I’m going to tell you a little bit about myself and my other academic endeavours. Opting into 3D Animation as well as the mandatory Television Production and Image Capturing modules, I am looking to make a successful and relevant career for myself with my degree. Following on from my first year of learning at De Montfort University I have eased into the comfort of learning in a style which leans more on balanced responsibility and self-study, allowing myself to be prepared and confident with the year to come.

Social Media Production; it surrounds us all in this newly digitalised modern world. As a youth growing up with technology rapidly accelerating in efficiency and ease of access I could perhaps say that it’s hard to imagine a time before a message to the other side of the world was just a button away. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, all of these websites allow communication to be instant, connected and shared. Communities and societies being built in union by complete strangers, strangers who become friends, friends who become family. The world we live in today has been shaped by Social Media and the affects it has had on us as a society and a people. Countries borders slowly meaning little and little as cultures shape together and gain a new understanding and tolerance for each other. Looking at Social Media Production this way is what inspired me to pursue such a course, and enticed me to want to learn more about what it offers us.

All of my social media links can be found via the ‘About Me’ page, it would be great if you could check them out.

If you think that Social Media has had a massive contribution to how digitalized we are as a society in our everyday lives, you’d be onto the right track! I’ve gone and took the time to summaries a few points about how we have become digitalized so strongly as a society in key aspects of life! Please take the time to have a read of this Essay.

Let me know what you think of what I’ve wrote! Comment on how my reflective points could be countered, or maybe if you feel differently to this topic!

SOMEBODY TOUCHA MY SPAGHET. It’s the freshest and newest meme of 2018, sweeping the internet like an absolute storm. I’ve decided to record a little video of me reacting to this meme, since I’ve placed it as my meme of the month January 2018.

Admittedly, I didn’t get very far through reacting to these memes and they’re absolute torture, however have a go yourself!

..and for all of your curious people out there who’re seeing these memes and want to watch the full SOMEBODY TOUCHA MY SPAGHET meme compilation, here’s that for you!

Mixing and matching films is always good, combining two of your favourites into a wacky and unexpected collaboration. That’s the goal of this neat little assignment I found lying about the mashup bank. Two of my favourite films, which hold almost no significance to each other are the Star Wars franchise and the amazing Pulp Fiction, part of the Tarantino cinematic universe. Now, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a wizard when it comes to using Photoshop but I definitely did want to try throwing the brilliant Samuel L Jackson into the rising sun scene of Tatooine. I decided to go for the famous bible quotation scene where John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson narrowly escape an array of bullets and Jackson’s character claims divine intervention has saved them. This is for two reasons, the first being that this is arguably the most iconic scene from the entire film and the second being that I knew that it would be easier to edit this portrait of Samuel L Jackson and place him into the desert. Upon collecting the two screen grabs of each film I put them both into photoshop, masked around the portrait of Samuel J Jackson and began to cut it out of the still that it belonged to. After that, I simply placed the cut out onto a still of Tatooine with Luke Skywalker looking in the distance towards the twin suns and mirrored the image. Here it is.

Not bad if you ask me, a nice little mix up of two very well known and iconic movies. Try it out for yourself! It doesn’t take long and its a fun way to pass the time!

We’ve all seen those online personality tests, they’re practically unavoidable for anyone who frequents use of Facebook or Twitter in the modern world, but have you ever taken one? I found myself spending a lot of time when I first began using social media finding out what kind of animal I am deep down, or which character I’d be if god forbid I was a part of the Lost series. Despite being part of the crowd who wasted hours filling out these quizzes just to not get the outcome I wanted, I never really signed up to the whole thing. It never really gripped me. Luckily for me, however – this assignment gives me a chance to create my own little quiz for myself and my friends.

Creating a virtual space using just audio is done in several steps, multiple noises cannot just be thrown together in order to make this virtual space. Sounds and effects must be stacked up upon each other in detailed synchronisation in order to paint an auditory picture in the viewers head. For my piece, I’m going to use three different audio pieces to begin with, these will set the scene and the foundation for where the story is going to be based. After these foundations have been established, the details will slowly fall into place.

The humming of a motor vehicle:

The pressing of a motor vehicle’s horn:

The busy walkway of a street:

Play all of these sound effects together, what mental image does this put into your mind? The intention and original aim of mixing these three busy. fast and noisy audio files together is intended to create the illusion of being in a busy city – specifically New York City. Upon establishing this foundation, a story can fall into place around the idea of being on the busy streets of New York City. Perhaps a person trying to escape the fast pace of the city by walking to Central Park? Only to realise the hectic lifestyle is not so easily escaped.

Birds singing in the park:

Using all of these sound affects does paint a vivid picture, the human imagination has the power to generate a thousand different stories in our heads, and with the assistance of some stimulated noises these stories can be layered and layered into more details.

A simple image with a deeper meaning, this assignment gives me a chance to talk about a tattoo I have already had done. The tattoo is based off of the above image, a geometric pineapple. The sentimental behind the tattoo derives from my friends and I’s cheesy use of a pineapple signifying our friendship after several inside jokes piled up upon each other. After a long time, the fruit became significant to us as people.

I truly believe that my friends helped me change for the better into a more confident and happy person, and the pineapple is a sign of that. The original design received several changes before it was settled as to what I wanted to aim for as the final design. The amount of small geometric shapes as the pattern was edited and minimised in order to make the design more plausible when it was actually being printed.

Getting a tattoo isn’t something you should rush into, lots of research should be done beforehand. For example, it’s wise to research about the specific tattoo parlour you’re planning to have your tattoo at, as well as looking into the artists previous work and reviews as to how their other work has turned out.

I had my tattoo done by hand at the Black Market Tattoo Parlour in Leicester by artist Lydia Amor, and was very happy with the final outcome. The sentimental meaning of the pineapple, what it means to me and what it means for my life has now been paid homage to in the form of a permanent reminder. The designs were created in part for ds106, and the outcome was an actual tattoo being created and inked onto me.

Changing the colour on a photo can dramatically change the way people perceive the image and dramatically shift the focal points as to where an audience is going to look when they view your image. For example, shifting the colour tones in this image I have taken greatly emphasises the hair colour of the photographed boy and leads the audience to focus more on his hair. Other small details such as the mobile phone in the background, or small details such as the watch on the boys hand can almost be missed out due to the redirection of attention. I chose to do this image for my Colour Changer assignment piece as it works well as an example piece for redirected attention.

The changing of colour tones can also switch up the entire dynamic of a photograph or video, here’s a video of Tame Impala’s Beverly Laurel, where during the video the colour tones shift along with the music. Can you notice how this change thematically follows the flow of the music?

Whilst editing the photo I simply masked around the coloured area I wished to keep, inverted the selected mask and removed the saturation on the image. This segregated the colour to the photographed boys hair. A simple change changed the thematic of my original photograph, completing the intended goal with ease. Colour changing is an easy and thoughtful way to remix an existing photograph in a way which can heavily shift the way the image is seen.

As well as changing the colour of an image, many visual editors also take this affect and use it whilst editing videos. This is a useful tool for film makers to change the undertones of a video in order to fit the video into any theme which they may be attempting to align their work with. Here’s a quick example and tutorial of editing colours in video!